Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A BOY'S REMONSTRANCE, by CHARLES PERRY (19TH CENTURY-)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A BOY'S REMONSTRANCE, by                    
First Line: I am feeling very badly; everything is going to crash
Last Line: And request that in the future these rights be let alone.
Subject(s): Boys


I AM feeling very badly; everything is going to crash:
All the things I have believed in are going with a smash!
The folks are growing learned, and all their wretched lore is
Used to shake a fellow's faith in his best-beloved stories.
The fairies have been scattered, and the genii they have gone,
There are no enchanted castles, they have vanished every one.
Aladdin never lived, and the dear Scheherazade,
Though very entertaining, was a much mistaken lady.
Of course I see through Santa Claus, I had to, long ago;
And Christmas will be going, the next thing that I know,
For I heard, I wasn't listening—I heard the parson say,
He had really—yes, had really—grave doubts about the day.
And as for Master Washington, they say the goose should catch it,
Who believed a single minute in that story of the hatchet.
They've given a rap at Crusoe, and dear old Friday. Why!
We'll all believe in Friday, we boys will, till we die!
They may say it's not "authentic," and such like if they dare!
When they strike a blow at Friday, they hit us boys. So there!
And I've been reading in a book, writ by some college swell,
That there never was a genuine, a real live William Tell!
That he was just a myth, or what we boys would call a sell:
That he didn't shoot the apple, nor Gesler, not a bit—
That all the other nations have a legend just like it.
I think it's little business for a college man to fight
Against these dear old stories and send them out of sight.
And all the boys are just as mad! and so the girls are, too;
And so we called a meeting to decide what we should do.
And we passed some resolutions, because that is the one
And only way for meetings, when it's all that can be done.
I send you here a list:
Resolved, that there was a William Tell;
That by his bow and arrow the tyrant Gesler fell.
Resolved, that he was not a myth, whatever that may be—
But that he shot the apple and Switzerland was free.
Resolved, that Crusoe lived, and Friday, and the goat.
Resolved, that little Georgy his father's fruit-tree smote,
And owned up like a hero. Resolved, that all the science
Of all the learned professors shall not shake our firm reliance
In the parties we have mentioned; and we do hereby make known
The fact that we boys feel that we have some rights of our own—
And request that in the future these rights be let alone.





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